General issues with a reach into Israel and/or related to the Israeli Body of Messiah both Jew and Arab.

Friday, February 26, 2010

ACTION ALERT: A Purim Letter Writing Plea

A few days ago I received this informative bulletin and letter-writing action request from David and Leah Ortiz from Ariel. I would encourage you all to read the briefing on how the religious Jewish terrorist that almost took the life of their son on Purim 2008, has confessed to police that he was associated with the anti-missionary group Yad L'Achim. The Jerusalem Institute of Justice which defends the Messianic Jewish community in Israel has filed a request with the Israeli Attorney General to outlaw the Yad L'Achim group as an officially designated "terrorist organization." It sure is.

At the end of this brief, the Ortiz family asks for Messianics and Christians to join in the effort to make Israeli and government officials of other nations aware that we support the request for official acknowledgment that Yad L'Achim is conducting itself as a dangerous stalking and terrorist organization against believers in Yeshua/Jesus who just want the freedom to practice their faith without persecution.

You will find information on how you can be involved in letter writing to Israeli officials as well as other government agencies in several nations. This appeal was not timed to coincide with Purim - unless it is Divine timing we are witnessing - but in response to breaking developments in the Ami Ortiz bombing case. Like the story of Esther upon which the Purim holiday is based, we are challenged to rise up and take action with the government authorities to turn back the threat against our brothers and sisters in Israel. "...and who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

Please read, pray and act now on behalf of all the Jewish believers in Israel, and for those who are also being spied on in nations as anti-missionaries seek to block Messianic believers from Israeli citizenship.

Thank you and God bless you as you stir yourself like queen Esther to "Open your mouth for the speechless, In the cause of all who are appointed to destruction. Open your mouth, judge righteously, And plead the cause of the poor and needy." Proverbs 31:8-9

Donna Diorio,Israelprayer.com

Romans 831 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Messiah who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Messiah? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:

" For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."

37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.

Shalom to all! We are grateful to God who gives victory in the midst of every battle! We haven't written in a while, because we weren't at liberty to reveal some important information concerning our case until now.YAKOV TEITEL - YAD L'ACHIM

Recently it has been revealed that in one of his interrogations, Yakov "Jack" Teitel, the perpetrator of the crime carried out in our home on March 20, 2008, worked for the anti freedom of religion organization called Yad L'Achim. This organization has a department which it calls itself the "counter-missionary" or "anti-missionary" department. They refer to Gentile Christians and Jews who believe that Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah, as "missionary cults", and admit on their website that they are committed to rescuing Jews who fall into our "net". Here are some quotes from their website:

"COUNTER MISSIONARY DEPARTMENT

“Ironically, Jews who live in Israel are the most vulnerable to missionaries. That's because missionary groups see making inroads in the Jewish homeland as a special achievement and therefore invest tremendous energy and resources there. The missionary infrastructure in Israel is based mainly on a few large Christian cults and dozens of smaller ones.

“In our battle against the missionaries we are even more motivated. We see the saving of each and every Jewish soul from Christian cults as a sacred mission. This is what drives Yad L'Achim's relentless efforts against the mission and its members.

“HOW DOES THE DEPARTMENT WORK?

“We fight the missionaries in a variety of ways, some of which, due to their sensitive nature, can't be described in detail.

“One of our most important functions is to track the activities of missionaries and respond to them in appropriate ways. We are updated every time the missionaries schedule a conference, open a new center or schedule a baptism for Jews in the Kinneret and have a variety of means - all of them legal - to foil them. When we receive a report of a family that has gotten caught up in a cult we intervene with tried and tested methods.

“SCOPE OF MISSIONARY ACTIVITY IN ISRAEL

“There are more than 100 missionary congregations operating in Israel. Indeed, every city has a missionary congregation that runs programs and activities aimed at luring Jews.

“The annual budget of the missionaries in Israel is in the millions of dollars, often funded from foreign sources.

“Under the guise of assisting the public, they open community centers, as well as drug-treatment facilities, that serve to advance their cause.

“The missionaries have at their disposal kibbutzim, convention centers, youth hostels, coffee houses, publishing houses and much more to spread their poisonous message."

The head of the anti-missionary department of Yad L'Achim is a Chabad Rabbi, Alex Artovsky, Soviet Union born, who has been questioned by the police many times on charges of harassing and intimidating Messianic Jews. You can read about him on the Roshpina website - he is an example of the type of people who work for the organization.

RESPONSE AND MORE FACTS

With the revelation of the admission of Jack Teitel that he was active in Yad L'achim for five years, carrying out various missions for them, it became incumbent on us as a community to respond as there had been no mention of this in the newspapers or publicly by the police.

The information was given to a reporter from the Ha'aretz Newspaper, and an article was written that was scheduled to appear in Hebrew on the front page of the paper. The article appeared in English in the English edition of Haaretz, but the editors of the Hebrew edition kept on postponing the Hebrew article for a week, every day with a different reasonable sounding excuse, until they declared that the article was old news and had already been published in English anyway.

It was very suspicious - perhaps they received threats from Yad L'achim that they would sue if the article appeared in Hebrew? Could someone have been paid off, or was someone pulling strings? Was the paper afraid of being blacklisted or of backlash? For sure, it was not business as usual when it came to this news item.

When Teitel confessed to working for Yad L'achim, there were no further attempts to gain more detailed information by the police, and according to Yad L'achim's own statement, they weren't questioned by the police in connection with Teitel either.

At the same time, Caleb Myers of the Jerusalem Institute for Justice has drafted a petition to the Israeli Attorney General, requesting that Y'ad L'achim be dismantled, based on concrete proof of their illegal activities in connection with the harassment and persecution of Messianic Jews, and their connection with Jack Teitel. The petition can be viewed on his website.

We advise strongly that you read Caleb Myer's document. The research is extensive and he's been able to detail the organization's activities in a very detailed way. Note: The incidents cited in this report are just a partial report of the activities of Yad L'achim against believers, because many of their attacks on the Messianic community go unreported as the believers are often afraid, or don't take the time and effort to notify the authorities. Unfortunately, they know that nothing will be done as a result which has been the case time and again.

Yad L'achim was founded in 1950 and at first it's purpose was to help Jews who were streaming into the re-established State to "find a suitable religious framework", according to their website. However, very quickly it turned into an organization that focuses on destroying Jews who believe in Yeshua, and to dismantle mixed marriages of Arabs and Jews.

Caleb Myers states in his petition to the Attorney General,

"According to the Organization's own publications, both on its websitehttp://yadleachim.co.il and on the Chabad site http://www.chabad.info/, it isinvolved, among other things, openly and directly, in tracking, supervising andcollecting information about members of various religions and faiths, includingMessianic Jews, tourists, residents and citizens alike, who are perceived by itsactivists as "dangerous missionaries".

From 1999-2009 the State Department has been reporting on the undemocratic and often violent actions of Yad L'achim's activities in Israel.

Another shocking thing about Yad L'achim and it's associates, is that it receives tax-deductable status from democratic countries like the United States, that stand on the pillars of personal freedoms, one of which is the freedom of religion.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

So once again we are turning to you, for prayer and to exercise the power of the pen for this petition to succeed.

It is reasonable to assume that Yakov Teitel found out about our family through records in Yad L'achim's office during the five years that he worked for them. We don't want more Teitel's to harm believers in Israel, which will surely happen if we don't take action based on the facts that have been revealed to us.

As you pray for these matters, would you consider these following actions: (Isaiah 1:17; Prov. 31:8&9)

1. Write to the Israeli Attorney General, Yehuda Weinstein, to consider Caleb Myer's report and the request to disband Yad L'achim in Israel with the utmost seriousness. You can state that you are supporters of Israel and that you are seeking it's welfare and benefit. For example, "As people that support and believe in the State of Israel, in seeking it's benefit, we urge the attorney General to disband this organization so Israel can continue to be a light to the nations by it's example of freedom and democracy in the Middle East, which includes, especially, the freedom of religion."

In reality, especially for those of us who live in Israel, organizations like Yad L'achim and their associates dedicate themselves full-time to be predators, seeking every opportunity to hinder, harass, persecute and murder the Body of Messiah, as in the confession of one of their foot soldiers, Yakov Teitel. These predators shouldn't be allowed any longer to carry out their illegal activities without any fear of due process of law.

Letters can be sent only by fax - the number is- 011-972-2-6467001, or by post:Mr. Yehuda WeinsteinAttorney GeneralMinistry of Legal Affairs29 Salah A-Din St.JerusalemIsrael

2. Write to Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu with the same message, and to urge him to not let Teitel's connection with Yad L'achim to be swept under the rug, so that justice can truly prevail in Israel. bnetanyahu@knesset.gov.il

3. Write to your Senators, Congressmen, or government officialsin light of Caleb Myers petition to the Israeli Attorney General, and the harassment and intimidation of Yad L'Achim, and their connection with Yakov "Jack Teitel"who was responsible for the bombing and attempted murder of Ami Ortiz, to take away the tax deductable status of Yad L'achim in the U.S. and wherever they have chapters.

4. Write to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, to ask for Yad L'achim's offices to be closed in the U.S. and/or their tax deductible status taken away.800 North Capitol Street NWSuite 790Washington, DC 20002

5. For those living outside of the United States, you could write to your Parliament members and representatives, and a possibility is to write to the World Evangelical Alliance to come on board to write to the Israeli government to stop the activities of these types of organizations that infringe on the freedom of religion of Messianic believers in Israel.

Caleb Myer's report can be sent to them as well.

Your letters don't have to be long, anything that you can manage will help.

Also to be noted - Yad L'Achim are not representative of the Orthodox Jews in Israel who are mostly law-abiding citizens.

Thank you for walking with us in rank, heart to heart, towards the mark. (1Chron. 12:33; Phil. 3:14)

Yours in the MessiahLeah

PS. Please pray for Howard Bass' trial on March 9th - the head of the counter-missionary department of Yad L'Achim, Alex Artovsky, will be questioned on the stand as to his alleged involvement in the riot that took place in the congregation in Beer Sheva in 2005. Closing statements will also be given, please pray for Howards lawyers, Marvin Kramer and Kevork Nalbandian.